Apocalypse (tapestry)

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Hall with the carpets

The tapestry cycle of the Apocalypse of Angers impresses with its dimensions of 103 meters in length and 4.5 meters in height. Originally, the work was even more impressive: each of its six elements was 6 meters high and over 23 meters long, resulting in a total length of over 140 meters. It is the largest tapestry ever woven in Europe. It was made between 1373 and 1382 on behalf of Duke Ludwig I of Anjou . The master weaver Nicolas Bataille coordinated the financing and implementation, the court painter Jan Bondol ("Hennequin von Bruges") designed the designs and most of the execution took place in Robert Poisson's carpet weaving workshop in Paris.

The carpet cycle is exhibited in Angers Castle (France) in a building built especially for this purpose in 1954 and depicts the visions from the Revelation of John .

nature

A total of 84 individual scenes are distributed over six elements made of wool , which are alternately woven on a red and blue background. Each carpet was originally six meters high, five of which were 24 meters long, giving a total area of ​​around 700 m² of fabric . The remains of the original tenture, 140 meters long, are 103 meters long and five meters high. For what purpose or what room these tapestries were intended cannot be verified. Perhaps they were only hung outside in the open air within the palace district on major occasions. In general, tapestries in the Middle Ages had the task of protecting apartments or religious buildings from drafts and beautifying them. Like some special furniture, the tapestries were taken by the owner on his travels. As a gift, they even played a role in diplomatic relations between the princes. But the size of the Angers carpets differs from other examples and they may have a completely different function.

history

Exterior view of the hall built 1953–1954 with the carpets

Possibly it was a splendid decoration for the " Ordre de la Croix ", the order of the cross that Ludwig I founded around 1370. The fact that the carpet contains a flag with the cross with a double bar, a sign of the duke's devotion to the relic of the real cross in Anjou , suggests this.

It was not until the Baroque period that the sense of this precious thing was lost. In 1782 they were put up for sale. During the French Revolution , they were cut up and used as blankets, bed rugs or tarpaulins to protect orange trees from the cold in winter. In 1843 the Bishop of Angers bought back a large part of the carpet fragments from the domain assembly, others were found after a persistent search. Even so, about a third of the scenes were lost forever. The originally bright colors can still be seen on the back. The fronts have become much paler, hence today's measures against too much light. The building in which the carpet cycle is located today was built especially for this purpose in 1953–1954.

The first carpet was almost completely preserved, and the fourth and fifth are still in their old size. Individual scenes and fragments remained of the others, which can no longer be assigned to a particular carpet in all cases.

Subjects of the cycle

The visions of the Revelation of John are depicted on each individual Angers carpet in two rows one on top of the other, each containing seven images, i.e. 14 scenes per carpet. The individual pictures have alternating red or blue backgrounds, creating a kind of checkerboard pattern. Under each picture was a text, an abbreviated statement from the Apocalypse, which, however, was largely lost.

The longer the nine years of work on the carpets dragged on, the more efforts were made to improve their quality. The first scenes all have a plain background. Later, a lush flora with more or less dense leaves and flowers was grouped around the figures and butterflies were added.

The individual scenes

Scene 9: The Black Horse and the Famine (Third Seal)
Scene 10: The Pale Horse and Death (Fourth Seal)
Scene 18: The Shipwreck (Second Trumpet)
Scene 19: The wormwood (third trumpet)
Scene 20: The eagle disaster (fourth trumpet)
Scene 23: The horsemen
Scene 34: Archangel Michael defeats the dragon
Scene 38: The beast from the sea
Scene 39: The adoration of the dragon
Scene 66: The fall of the devil-conquered Babylon
Scene 70: The animals are thrown into the pool of fire
Scene 73: The New Jerusalem

The numbers correspond to the register of the tapestry cycle and the numbering of the Gallery of the Apocalypse in Angers Castle. Italic font means that the scene was lost.

First element

  • Scene 1: Large figure seated under a canopy
Top row
  • Scene: St. John on the island of Patmos
  • Scene 2: The seven churches
  • Scene 3: Christ with the sword
  • Scene 4: God on the throne
  • Scene 5: The elders bow down before God
  • Scene 6: The tears of St. John
  • Scene 7: The slaughtered lamb
Bottom row
  • Scene: The lamb opens the book
  • Scene 8: The winner on the white horse (first seal)
  • Scene: the red horse and the war (second seal)
  • Scene 9: The Black Horse and the Famine (Third Seal)
  • Scene 10: The Pale Horse and Death (Fourth Seal)
  • Scene 11: The souls of the martyrs (Fifth Seal)
  • Scene: The Earthquake (Sixth Seal)

Second element

  • Scene: Big figure?
Top row
  • Scene 12: The four directions of the wind
  • Scene 13: The crowd of the chosen
  • Scene 14: The Seven Trumpets (Seventh Seal)
  • Scene 15: The angel with the censer
  • Scene 16: The angel empties his censer
  • Scene 17: Hail and Fire (First Trumpet)
  • Scene 18: The Shipwreck (Second Trumpet)
Bottom row
  • Scene 19: The wormwood (third trumpet)
  • Scene 20: The eagle disaster (fourth trumpet)
  • Scene 21: The Locusts (Fifth Trumpet)
  • Scene 22: The Angels of the Euphrates River (Sixth Trumpet)
  • Scene 23: The horsemen
  • Scene 24: The angel with the book
  • Scene 25: St. John eats the book

Third element

  • Scene 26: Large figure seated under a canopy
Top row
  • Scene 27: The measurement of the temple
  • Scene 28: The two witnesses
  • Scene 29: The death of the two witnesses
  • Scene 30: The joy of the people in the face of the dead witnesses
  • Scene 31: The witnesses awaken from their death
  • Scene 32: The Victory Announcement (Seventh Trumpet)
  • Scene 33: The virgin in the sun dress
Bottom row
  • Scene 34: Archangel Michael defeats the dragon
  • Scene 35: The woman is given wings
  • Scene 36: The dragon pursues the woman
  • Scene 37: The dragon fights the servants of God
  • Scene 38: The beast from the sea
  • Scene 39: The adoration of the dragon
  • Scene 40: The adoration of the beast

Fourth element

  • Scene 41: Large figure seated under a canopy
Top row
  • Scene 42: The renewed adoration of the beast
  • Scene 43: The beast from the earth drops fire from the sky
  • Scene 44: The adoration of the image of the beast
  • Scene 45: The number of the beast
  • Scene 46: The Lamb on Mount Zion
  • Scene 47: The New Song of Songs
  • Scene 48: An angel announces good news
Bottom row
  • Scene 49: A second angel announces the fall of Babylon
  • Scene 50: A third angel and the lamb
  • Scene 51: The sleep of the righteous
  • Scene 52: The harvest of the elect
  • Scene 53: The Grape Harvest of the Damned
  • Scene 54: The wine press overflowing
  • Scene 55: The seven last plagues and the harps of God

Fifth element

  • Scene 56: Large figure seated under a canopy
Top row
  • Scene 57: The angels receive their bowl
  • Scene 58: The first bowl poured out onto the earth
  • Scene 59: The bowl that has been poured out over the waters
  • Scene 60: The fourth bowl, poured into the sun
  • Scene 61: The fifth and sixth bowls poured out over the throne and into the Euphrates
  • Scene 62: The frogs
  • Scene 63: The seventh bowl poured into the air
Bottom row
  • Scene 64: The "big whore" on the water
  • Scene 65: The "whore" on the animal
  • Scene 66: The fall of the devil-conquered Babylon
  • Scene: The angel throws a millstone into the sea
  • Scene 67: The doomed "whore"
  • Scene: The Lamb's Wedding
  • Scene 68: Saint John and the angel

Sixth element

  • Scene: Big figure?
Top row
  • Scene: The word of God as a victorious rider on the white horse
  • Scene: The birds devour the wicked
  • Scene 69: The word of God attacks the two animals
  • Scene 70: The animals are thrown into the pool of fire
  • Scene: The dragon is bound for a thousand years
  • Scene 71: The judges
  • Scene 72: Satan besieging the city
Bottom row
  • Scene: The devil is thrown into the lake of fire
  • Scene: The Last Judgment
  • Scene 73: The New Jerusalem
  • Scene 74: The measurement of the new Jerusalem
  • Scene 75: The stream flowing from God's throne
  • Scene 76: St. John before the angel
  • Scene 77 and 78b: Saint John before Christ

literature

  • Claire Giraud-Labalte: The Tapestry of the Apocalypse. Rennes 1982 (Official Art Guide of the Museum)
  • Liliane Delwasse: The cycle of the Apocalypse of Angers. (German version by Karin Merkin) Éditions du Patrimoine, Center des Monuments Nationaux, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-7577-0007-5
  • Alain Erlande-Brandenburg : Gothic Art. Herder, Freiburg-Basel 1984
  • Regards sur la tapisserie. Association des conservateurs des antiquités et objets d'art de France; directed by Guy Massin-Le Goff and d'Étienne Vacquet. Edion Actes Sud, 2002.
  • L'Apocalypse d'Angers. , Journal: Dossier de l'art, n ° 31, August 1996.
  • Pierre-Marie Auzas, among others: The Apocalypse of Angers. A masterpiece of medieval carpet knitting. Hirmer Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3777439703

Web links

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